What we can learn from a three-year-old

Here’s a short video clip that’s been a favorite of ours for a couple of years now. It’s about a precious three-year-old girl’s response to being healed after she prayed.

So, what can we learn from this three-year-old? You need to watch the clip first…

I think we can learn at least two things from this delightful child:

First of all, her simple (and literal) child-like faith. She just believes God and takes Him at face value. It’s obvious that she hasn’t been talked out of the unwavering goodness of God yet. She didn’t have a theologian explain to her that God doesn’t heal people that way anymore.

She reminds me of when Jesus told the Centurion, “as you have believed, so let it be done for you” (Matt.8:13)

Secondly, and just as important, her exuberant response to God. This is a perfect example in how we should respond to a good God–in this case, healing, but for everything, even if the answer doesn’t come right away.

In contrast, I’ve often pondered why we seem so non-responsive, even when God does answer our prayers. Shouldn’t the goodness of God be wildly applauded and appreciated all the time? Shouldn’t this child’s response be the appropriate one? Shouldn’t our affections toward God be shown this way?

Let me put it this way. If you were God, which response would give you more glory and even delight your heart–this child’s unbridled enthusiasm or our muted, rational one?

Have our sensibilities been so ground to powder by circumstance and experience that we cannot celebrate God’s everyday goodness at work? Does our faith in what’s humanly possible–in the visible, tangible, measurable, explainable–loom so large in our imaginations that we so easily dismiss Heaven’s miraculous power as coincidence or other more “realistic” explanations?

Have we, as professed followers of Christ, in fact, become “unbelieving believers” by abdicating our identity and authority as God’s sons and daughters–to do what Jesus did, and dare I say it, even greater things? (John 14:12)

Would we give this little girl a patronizing pat on her pretty head but reason within our virtually agnostic, logic-driven minds that maybe she wasn’t really sick–it’s a coincidence–anything, please–except the possibility that God might’ve actually supernaturally healed a three-year-old because she believed Him to do so.

Whatever you want to believe about it, do you see just how ungrateful we’ve become?

God told Israel that one of the reasons they went into bondage and captivity was because they forgot to keep His testimonies–they forgot to give credit to and rehearse the goodness of God (Psalm 78:56-64). Paul said that unthankful people become “futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Rom.1:21)

Maybe some of the “darkness” we have toward God is because of our chronic unthankfulness…or perhaps, our habitual forgetfulness?

Whatever you magnify gets bigger, right? So, what have we been “magnifying” lately?

And…if a three-year-old child gets it, why don’t we?

Beloved, can we just believe God and enjoy Him like this child? After all, we’re supposed to have child-like faith, right?

Yes, I think we can learn a great deal from a three-year-old.

So, let’s practice. Everybody…all together…shout it out in your loudest most uninhibited child-like voice…

Halle-yoo-lah! Halle-yoo-lah! Thank you, God, thank you, God…I’m happy with joy, I’m happy with joy…I love you, God!